Bridges rue missed chances in frustrating draw

On a clear but cold Tuesday night, Three Bridges made the trip to South London for an exciting Isthmian South-East clash between 5^th and 7^th in the table against Beckenham Town.

Bridges started the game with purpose and in the 8^th minute they take the lead after a great run by Reece Hallard whose shot gets blocked by one of Beckenham’s defenders, the ball gets picked up by Kevin Rivera who smashes it in with an unstoppable left foot strike from 25 yards out.

Only 5 minutes later Sam Bull plays a long ball and a dummy by Noel Leighton leaves Hayden Velvick through one on one with Mitchell Beeney who pulls an outstanding save to keep the deficit to 1.

Bridges keep on pushing in the minutes to come for a 2^nd goal with both Reece Hallard and Hayden Velvick having great chances saved by Beckenham’s keeper. In the 30^th minute Noel Fischer makes an unbelievable solo run down the right-hand side beating multiple defenders with his trickery before being eventually brought down in the box and the referee points to the spot with no hesitation. The resulting penalty is being taken by Reece Hallard who smashes it against the crossbar and the hosts get a lucky escape once again.

In the 42^nd minute the inevitable finally happened when Noel Leighton puts Harvey Woolard through one-on-one with the keeper who pulls yet another outstanding save, Reece Hallard smashes the rebound against the crossbar before Harvey Woolard finally heading the ball in from 2 yards out to extend the Bridges lead.

In the 45^th minute with the last action of the half, a great Bridges counterattack sees Kevin Rivera putting an easy finish wide before the referee blows the half time whistle. Bridges are left wondering how they are only 2-0 up at this stage of the game.

A rejuvenated Beckenham are coming back much stronger for the 2^nd half after making 3 substitutions at the break and they reap their rewards in the 52^nd minute when Bridges defence switches off for a throw-in and the prolific Louie Theophanous gets through one on one with Will Tillman and calmly places the ball in the back of the net.

4 minutes later a Reece Hallard free kick fails to beat the first man and less than 7 seconds later Abel Wendrells serves the ball on a plate for Louie Theophanous who pulls Beckenham Town back level.

Overcoming the shock of being equalised from two goals up, Bridges are wasting no time getting back on top, and a huge chance is being missed in the 72^nd minute by Noel Leighton, whose header gets cleared off the line by one of the hosts defenders.

In the remaining 20 minutes Bridges are throwing everything at a resilient Beckenham defence and despite the fact that the goal seems imminent, they struggle to find the back of the net.

It ends Beckenham Town 2 and Three Bridges 2  at Eden Park avenue football ground to the bewilderment of both the hosts and visitors’ fans alike in a game where Bridges earned a great point away from home that feels very sour in the context of a display that would have resulted in all 3 points coming back to Sussex on a different day.

All the attention for Three Bridges turns to the Saturday’s clash at home against cup heroes Sittingbourne that are sitting 2^nd in the league. All Crawley Town fans looking to continue their football Saturday after the game against Reading are welcomed to the Jubilee Field, with Crawley Town’s season ticket holders getting half price entry.

			Home				Away				Total
			P	W	D	L	P	W	D	L	P	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	Pts
	1	Ramsgate	16	15	1	0	17	13	2	2	33	28	3	2	97	28	+69	87
	2	Sittingbourne	16	15	1	0	15	10	4	1	31	25	5	1	95	19	+76	80
	3	Burgess Hill Town	17	12	3	2	14	9	4	1	31	21	7	3	63	31	+32	70
	4	Margate	16	6	8	2	17	13	1	3	33	19	9	5	61	38	+23	66
	5	Merstham	14	7	5	2	17	8	5	4	31	15	10	6	61	47	+14	55
	6	Beckenham Town	12	6	4	2	16	9	3	4	28	15	7	6	65	42	+23	52
	7	Three Bridges	15	6	1	8	17	9	3	5	32	15	4	13	61	56	+5	49
	8	Sheppey United	17	10	2	5	16	4	4	8	33	14	6	13	55	52	+3	48
	9	Sevenoaks Town	17	7	6	4	15	5	2	8	32	12	8	12	59	68	-9	44
	10	Deal Town	17	9	1	7	15	5	0	10	32	14	1	17	64	67	-3	43
	11	Broadbridge Heath	17	3	4	10	16	9	3	4	33	12	7	14	54	58	-4	43
	12	Erith Town	14	6	4	4	16	5	5	6	30	11	9	10	55	40	+15	42
	13	Eastbourne Town	17	5	5	7	15	6	3	6	32	11	8	13	49	53	-4	41
	14	Ashford United	16	6	3	7	17	6	2	9	33	12	5	16	55	60	-5	41
	15	AFC Croydon Athletic	17	7	5	5	14	2	6	6	31	9	11	11	46	51	-5	38
	16	East Grinstead Town	14	5	0	9	15	6	4	5	29	11	4	14	41	51	-10	37
	17	Herne Bay	16	6	3	7	15	2	4	9	31	8	7	16	36	60	-24	31
	18	Littlehampton Town	15	4	2	9	16	3	4	9	31	7	6	18	53	67	-14	27
	19	Phoenix Sports	17	5	2	10	15	2	1	12	32	7	3	22	31	75	-44	24
	20	Hythe Town	15	5	1	9	17	1	2	14	32	6	3	23	29	74	-45	21
	21	Lancing	17	5	1	11	16	1	2	13	33	6	3	24	34	87	-53	21
	22	Steyning Town Community	16	2	3	11	17	3	1	13	33	5	4	24	36	76	-40	19